One of my fellow computer consultants is out of town and asked me to help cover any emergencies that her clients might have while she was gone. I was happy to oblige because she’s a good person who has helped me quite a bit over the years professionally. I wound up going out to visit her clients on Thursday and Friday. The only thing is that both of those clients were about as far as they could possibly be from my home, meaning that I spent quite a bit of quality time in my car last week. These are the songs that were running through my head as I crept through traffic.

Katie Melua “On The Road Again” (Canned Heat)
The original is one of the greatest examples of hypnotic boogie music ever recorded. This version is much more sophisticated and upscale. It starts out with some simple acoustic strumming, then the horns, percussion and piano come in. Ms. Melua has a wonderful voice to boot.

Jim White “King Of The Road” (Roger Miller)
Talk about your radical reinventions. This song just cries out to be played at top volume on the highway with the top down. Mr. White takes rhythmic liberties with it that I’m sure would have appalled Roger Miller. The only part I don’t like is when the original version is spliced in at the end. As if you wouldn’t have known otherwise how far this version is from the original.

The W’s “Country Roads” (John Denver)
I’ve never really liked this song, maybe because of where my musical taste was when it came out. Here we have a rockabilly version with a smokin’ horn section and it sounds great to me. For my money it’s way better than the original.

Ghoti Hook “On The Road Again” (Willie Nelson)
Remember the South Park episode where Cartman puts together a Christian rock group because he figures that Christians will buy anything as long as it mentions Jesus and/or God? While there’s plenty of bad Christian rock out there, just like any other musical style, some of those bands would be good playing any kind of music. The good Christians of Ghoti Hook showed that when they did a covers album that had Christian and secular songs on it.

The Bobs “The Golden Road” (Grateful Dead)
My favorite a capella group is from San Francisco, which might probably explains their fondness for the Grateful Dead. In the past I’ve explained my feelings about the Dead, but I like the harmonies on this song. Heck, I like the harmonies on just about any song the Bobs sing.

I was having trouble coming up with a theme this week and then the power went out in my house for 24 hours, making it harder to lovingly craft a theme. So this week it’s just a bunch of songs with nothing particular in common.

Toadsuck Symphony “Stop In The Name Of Love” (Supremes)
Ever wonder what Diana Ross would sound like backed by a banjo and fiddle? Now you can rest easy.

Lin Yu Chu and William Shatner “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” (Bonnie Tyler)
What can be said about Shatner that hasn’t already been said? His music is truly a genre unto itself. I admire Shatner because he seems completely self-aware regarding his limited skills and is willing to laugh at himself. Those are traits that we should all cultivate.

This recording comes from the George Lopez Show by way of the charming and talented Ms. Lee. It’s the first clip from that show I’ve ever seen anybody repost. I see stuff from Jimmy Fallon’s show more often, which can’t bode well for Mr. Lopez’ show.

Look At The Fields “Miracles” (Insane Clown Posse)
I wasn’t aware of the original version of this song until some youthful recent house guests were mocking it. Then Heather (who’s cooler than I can ever hope to be) turned me on to this very charming, earnest ukulele-drenched cover. It makes me smile every time I hear it. Thanks, Heather.

Sly & The Family Stone “Que Sera Sera” (Doris Day)
Buying a ticket to see Sly Stone perform live is always an act of faith. You never know if he’ll show up at all or if he’ll be sober enough to play if he does. But his recordings are consistently great. Here he takes Doris Day’s signature song and turns it into an incredible slow jam. Man, do I wanna make out with somebody right now.

Camper Van Chadbourne “I Talk To The Wind” (King Crimson)
Eugene Chadbourne is an eclectic guitarist and banjo player who is probably best known for his time with Shockabilly and for inventing the electric rake, an ordinary garden rake with a guitar pickup attached. I saw Mr. Chadbourne in the early 90s playing with the bassist and violinist from Camper Van Beethoven. It was a good show but he didn’t pull out the rake. I was mildly disappointed. On this song he’s working with all of the guys from CVB and playing a very odd two-step arrangement of the prog-rock classic from King Crimson’s first album.

The Deepwater Horizon continues to spew oil into the ocean, endangering life on land, air, and sea. There are people calling for President Obama to “do more,” but when I ask those people what specific things he should be doing they mostly mumble and change the subject. On the rare occasions when they cite specific actions that Obama should be doing, it’s usually things that he has already done. When I point that out they complain that he should be doing more photo-ops.

The sad fact is that the federal government doesn’t have a whole lot of experience or expertise cleaning up oil spills in the deep ocean. That has made us all dependent on British Petroleum to clean up its own mess, but I have no doubt that the folks running BP have nobody’s interests in mind but their own. Yes, brothers and sisters, the water is indeed troubled.

Andre Crouch “Wade In The Water” (Fisk Jubilee Singers)
This traditional spiritual has several meanings. It refers to the flight of the Israelites from Egypt as well as a passage from the Gospel of John where an angel troubles the waters of a pool and the next person to enter the pool is cured of all ailments. I don’t think that anybody’s going to be cured by the troubled waters of the Gulf of Mexico any time soon.

Some folks also say that this song is also a set of instructions for fugitive slaves making their way to freedom. The song supposedly advises the escaped slaves to leave dry land and take to the water to throw pursuing bloodhounds off their scent.

Wilson Pickett “Fire And Water” (Free)
This whole mess started with a fire aboard the drilling rig and BP has tried setting fire to the oil slick in order to try to contain it. This song not only has an appropriate title, it’s a great funky horn-drenched take on the classic rock staple.

Señor Coconut “Smoke On The Water” (Deep Purple)
Señor Coconut is really German electronic musician Uwe Schmidt, who seems to collect aliases like some people collect comic books. In this guise he delivers a very nice Latin take on this old warhorse.

Aretha Franklin “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Simon And Garfunkle)
The troubled waters of the Gulf probably wouldn’t be helped by a bridge. But I still like listening to this mighty gospel version of Simon and Garfunkle’s hit.

Sold Out “Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)” (Prince)
I’ve heard that Kevin Costner has some sort of centrifuge-based machine that can remove the oil from the water. Apparently that’s what he spent his “Waterworld” money on. Which makes that incredibly silly movie just a little more justifiable.

I just love this cover because it takes a funky electronic song and completely recasts it as a raw delta blues tune. That kind of creativity is what Cover Freak is all about.

I always thought my Uncle Jack was a spy. He worked for the State Department but he never said what exactly he did. Nobody in the family had a phone number or address for him, everybody had to write to him in care of the embassy of the country where he was posted. He never talked about his job or his personal life.

Uncle Jack died last December and last weekend I got a suitcase full of his papers from his diplomatic career. The most notable thing was a class picture from a 1962 class in counterterrorism officer training at the U.S. Army Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg. There are 58 guys in the photo, he’s the only one in a suit. His classmates include a number of the Shah’s junior military officers from Iran. Yep, I’m pretty sure now that he was a spy.

And being the kind of guy I am that knowledge has inspired me to post a collection of spy-related music.

The Toasters “Secret Agent Man” (Johnny Rivers)
A lot of the spy shows on TV in the 50s and 60s used some pretty hip music, this song being a prime example. Here we have a swinging ska version that I think I like even better than the original.

Art Of Noise Feat. Duane Eddy “Peter Gunn Theme” (Henry Mancini)
Duane Eddy has one of the most distinctive guitar sounds ever. He dominates the beginning of this song before giving way to the sort of percussion and synthesizers that we’ve come to expect from Art Of Noise.

Lizzy Mercier Descloux “Mission Impossible” (Lalo Schifrin)
There aren’t many popular songs written in 5/4 time. Try to name one besides “Mission Impossible.” Go ahead, I dare you. This version features some tasty hand drumming and finger cymbals.

The Skatalites “James Bond Theme” (John Barry)
What is it with ska bands and spy songs? This song goes on a little long, as the main theme takes a back seat to some really long solos. But the horns are great and it’s a fun groove so I’ll cut them some slack

Ten Masked Men “Diamonds Are Forever” (Shirley Bassey)
I’ve always wondered why there has never been an official death metal James Bond theme song. This song proves that it would work perfectly with a Bond movie.